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The Best Young Premier League XI of 2011/12: Top Talents Aged 21 and Under

This Premier League campaign has seen sterling performances from some of the old-guards of our beautiful game, but what has impressed us the most this season is the meteoric rise of some of the games less seasoned veterans…..

Last weekend saw Brad Friedel take his place between the sticks for his 298th consecutive Premier League start. In January we witnessed the comeback of the season with Paul Scholes, and faultless performances from Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard – despite captaining a sinking ship – has proved to us that the Premier League is still very much and Old Boys club, right? Not exactly…

This campaign has seen the emergence of young talent in abundance. So much so, that we’ve decided to compile a team of u21’s who we think would be good enough to gain a top six finish in the Premier League.

Goalkeeper – David de Gea (Manchester United)

The tall Spaniard has taken time coming to terms with the Premier League; time that Sir Alex Ferguson will now look back on as great experience for the youngster. De Gea had his critics at the start of the season following poor performances against Liverpool and Blackburn respectively, yet the 21 year old has come on leaps and bounds in the second half of the season, putting in some impressive match winning displays for Sir Alex’s side. He is the youngest goalkeeper playing week-in-week-out and Ferguson now knows that he has found a real gem in the 21 year-old.